Buying a new gadget or appliance can suck up a surprising amount of time. Going shopping and unboxing your new purchase is exciting, but then you have to deal with making sure all its paperwork–receipts, warranties, user manuals–are organized and safely filed away. Bawte, a new iOS app, wants to make it easier for people to inventory and take care of their belongings.
Bawte creates a personal catalog that automatically adds links to online user manuals and sends you reminders when warranties are about to expire. Its most unique feature, however, is a free customer support service that you can contact in-app to help you deal with broken items.
While there are other apps that help you inventory your belongings (which is especially important for insurance reasons) or track warranties and online user manuals, Bawte wants to differentiate with a live service team that you can contact through the app if something goes wrong with a product. They can help you contact the manufacturer and see if you should return the item, drop it off at a repair shop, or take it back to the store. This feature can be especially helpful for people (like me) who tend to put off calling customer service lines because they don’t want to listen to hold music or are just forgetful.
The app can be used to create inventories of anything you own, including food, books, and cleaning supplies, but it’s most useful for expensive items like consumer electronics and appliances. To use Bawte, you scan or type in a product’s UPC code. Bawte automatically enter in information like links to firmware installation and online user manuals.
You can add tags, as well as information like serial numbers, receipts, and purchase date. If your item has a warranty or protection plan, Bawte will link to its terms and send you reminders when it’s about to expire or needs to be renewed. In the worst case scenario, it will alert you if a product has been recalled, so you don’t obliviously continue using that dangerous car seat or exploding toilet.